Pro-lifers blasted as ‘pale faces’ at open-mic; Muslim pro-lifer says she was denied chance to speak

Apr 26, 2018 7:05 pm

Pro-life students were blasted as "pale faces" during an open-mic event at the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday while a pro-life Muslim student said she was repeatedly denied the chance to speak. (Image source: YouTube screenshot)

Pro-life students were blasted as “pale faces” during an open-mic event — ironically titled, “Speak Out for Justice” — at the University of Minnesota-Duluth while a pro-life Muslim student said she was repeatedly denied the chance to speak, Campus Reform reported.

Student Advocates for Choice member Reilly Manzer ripped into a host of other enemies during Saturday’s event, the outlet said, including “white supremacists I have to call my peers,” those who believe “all lives matter” — which he called “honky nonsense” — as well as the “I-don’t-see-race people” and those who “scream” at him for “kneeling during the national anthem.”

But Manzer had a special message — accented with a couple of F-bombs — for those who oppose abortion.

“I’m f***in’ tired of the pale faces of the pro-life group that compare abortion to slavery and the Holocaust and then go and complain to the university that they’re being discriminated against because people call them the f*** out,” Manzer was heard saying on video.

Campus Reform said Manzer declined to comment to the outlet about his words, which also included a mention of “white fragility,” a takedown of those who disagree with toppling statues of southern Civil War figures — as well as a call to “rise up and rip white supremacy from its roots.”

Here’s the clip. (Content warning: Some strong language):

A Muslim student reportedly wanted to speak as well, but there was a little problem…

Ayah Abuserrieh, a Muslim pro-life student, told Campus Reform she wanted to get behind the mic as well and tell the crowd how her faith informs her support for the pro-life cause.

But she told the outlet that “when I came up to the open-mic, they told me ‘no’ twice. Other students were allowed to speak about things that made them uncomfortable…and I wanted to speak about the harassment that cultural minority groups face on campus.”

Abuserrieh — a prominent member of the Muslim Students Association, College Republicans and Bulldog Students for Life — added to Campus Reform that the open-mic organizers “didn’t even know what I wanted to say” when they denied her request to speak.

She also called Manzer’s characterizations of pro-life students “gross and ridiculous,” the outlet said.

“The idea that the pro-life movement is related to white supremacy…it’s ridiculous that people actually believe that,” Abuserrieh told Campus Reform. “Bulldogs for Life and College Republicans are some of the most inclusive groups on campus. There’s never been a time where [I] — as a Muslim person of color — [have] felt uncomfortable whatsoever.”

This writer’s perspective

Could it be that if the open-mic organizers balked at Abuserrieh’s repeated requests to speak, they did so because they know who she is and what she stands for — and that she’s a “person of color” — and didn’t want to risk seeing that pro-life “pale faces” narrative dismantled before their eyes?

As Campus Reform noted, given Abuserrieh is a prominent member of the Muslim Students Association, College Republicans and Bulldog Students for Life, she wouldn’t seem to be an unknown quantity on campus.

One also wonders: If Abuserrieh were a well-known member of liberal groups on campus and staunchly pro-choice, would she be denied a chance to speak at an open mic that touted “justice” in its title?

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